The credit union's local office was closed for about a week, and has only just re-opened today.

A handwritten note taped to the front entrance simply said to 'call Darwin office'.

Tony Hampton, CEO of the Traditional Credit Union said the Katherine branch had been experiencing staffing issues as of late.

"Our policy as an Indigenous institution is that 100 per cent of our staff is Indigenous," Mr Hampton said.

"We train people up with limited education... what that means is it is quite difficult to get staff and we have had recent issues trying to maintain staff at the branch due to cultural reasons."

Daniel Kingsley was just one person who was impacted by the closure this week.

He had driven hours, with his family, from the remote Indigenous community of Minyerri to do shopping, as Katherine is the nearest hub to his town.

But with no access to his funds, he said he was "stuck".

"We didn't come with food and we can't fuel up the car if we can't get money out," he said.

"I have no idea what I'm going to do."

Those who have were successful in speaking to a bank representative on the phone during the closure were instructed to go to the Katherine Salvos to fill out a transfer request.

The request must be emailed or faxed, and while it only takes about an hour for the funds to be moved, Traditional Credit Union charged people $6.50.

Mr Hampton maintained the branch's ATM remained in working order and people could also access their money through the Commonwealth ATM on Katherine Terrace for free.

However, those who did not have a card were left in the lurch.

"We find with providing banking services for Indigenous people, we do go through a lot of lost cards," Mr Hampton said.

"We have adopted a position to issue immediate cards over the counter.

"Our position is we want the branch to be open, it is not acceptable that people might not have been able to buy food (due to not being able to access funds), but we have two ATMs. This is not the whole membership who has been put out, only the people who have lost their cards."

The branch is currently being staffed by members from Darwin. And the Katherine branch is in the process of hiring new staff.

Mr Hampton said he was happy to provide a refund of the transfer fee to those who were disadvantaged by the bank's week-long closure.

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